Wheel of Fortune has always been picky about pronunciation. But imho they took it to a new level of douchery this week. Contestant didn’t pronounce the G in swimming. :dubious: But, the G letter was already revealed. Seems like the contestant knew the G was there and had an accent.
short video at the bottom. Was she cheated or not?
Other game shows like Millionaire and Are You Smarter than 5th Grader seem more reasonable about pronunciation.
Yeah, I’d say that was overzealous enforcement of whatever pronunciation rules they have. I couldn’t even say with 100% certainty that she didn’t nasalize that “ng.” There technically isn’t a “g” sound there anyway, and saying a hard “g” is over-enunciating (which I do sometimes in my accent.)
I mean, did she say [n] or did she say [ŋ]? Can you really tell with certainty and, if you can’t, it’s pretty darned obvious she knows it, given the “g” is up there.
She was robbed. And in this case, I don’t think bringin’ the contestant back for another show would be enough compensation. She might not win anything on a new show. I think she should just be given whatever she was entitled to when she gave the right answer. However, I’m sure all contestants sign releases that stipulate that they will abide by decisions made by the judges and slink away quietly when it is all over. So my guess is, what’s done is done.
I listened to it a few more times, and I can’t say definitively that there’s no velar “n” in there. It sounds to me like there may be there, though soft. And the more I listen to it, the more I think it actually is there. The person who answer correctly, the “ng” isn’t that much more enunciated, either.
Years ago I thought they were wrong for not giving a contestant credit for Tatum O’neal when she pronounced it tat-um with a short A. Therefore I think they blew this one.
I don’t know what the show rules are. I say she got hosed, but maybe they point out ahead of time that words have to be properly pronounced. For all I know she didn’t realize there was another letter on the board and thought the right answer was swimmin, without the G. If I had money on the line I’d be using my best enunciation, and not complaining if I got it wrong.